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Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission Director Rex Derr spoke at Tuesday’s Kenmore City Council meeting and the message was not a good one for those who still hold out hope for the reopening of the Carole Ann Wald swimming pool in Saint Edward State Park.
The state-owned facility has had its doors locked since December 30 of 2009 when its last operator, Mill Creek’s West Coast Aquatics, announced it could no longer afford to run the pool and adjacent gymnasium. Six months prior to that, previous pool operator Northwest Center severed ties with the facility for the same reasons.
Derr said the Parks and Recreation Commission would continue to welcome a new operator to take over the facility, but a letter delivered to Kenmore Mayor David Baker reflected pessimism of the possibility.
"The Carole Anne Wald swimming pool, built in the 1960s, and the gym, built in the 1930s, were never designed to be commercial or community recreational facilities and they have never operated cost- effectively," he said. "They were built generations ago to serve the needs of seminary students."
Derr said that although the pool was substandard and met none of the criteria for a modern community recreation facility, "it made sense" to allow public use of the pool and gym over the years while their condition and state finances allowed.
And those days are over.
The Kenmore City Council, at the urging of the local swimming community, recently authorized a facility condition assessment to determine precisely what needed to be done — and how much it would cost — to get the pool back up and running.
The assessment, prepared by ORB Architects, determined that an investment of $1.2 to $4.1 million will be required to improve the premises to modern standards for safety, efficiency and access.
"That first figure ($1.2 million) is just to get the pool open in a safe condition that would meet code regulations," Kenmore City Manager Fred Stouder said. "The second figure is what it would cost to rebuild the facility totally — including parking, which is a problem. Essentially it’s constructing a brand new pool."
Derr said a regional funding solution for improvements and ongoing operational costs is unlikely in these lean economic times.
"The state fiscal situation continues with uncertainty with a current deficit of two to nine billion dollars," he said. "Therefore, after considering the inescapable economics of this situation and with regret, I have directed staff to close the pool. We will consider making the gym available to the public on an economic basis to be determined."
Stouder said the city would proceed with Phase 2 of ORB Architects’ assessment."Their engineers have already done the structural analysis so we’re talking about a final report in publication form, checking for inconsistencies, adding final revisions," he said.
He said that report would be submitted to the city in September.
"The city’s doing everything it can to encourage a potential operator and identify the true cost," he said. "Discussions on the Phase 2 report in September will determine what follows."
Baker said the city was willing to foot the bill for the assessment, but not the repairs and operations costs.
"People need to remember that we do not own that facility," he said. "It belongs to the state."
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